There are few hotter prospects in the Brit scene than the Bombay Bicycle Club at the moment and ahead of their headlining role at Clockenflap, guitarist Jamie MacColl tells Mark Tjhung how BBC are just kids who are always after a different kind of fix

How’s the year been so far since the album came out?
It’s been an eventful year definitely, with the festival season in the UK, it’s a big deal, and right at the end of that, the album came out. Now we’re just getting to travel the world, which is great fun actually.

Have you noticed that, even touring around this summer, a noticeable change in your profile, in the way people consider you you, as opposed to previous years?
Yeah, definitely at festivals, we’ve noticed that there’s a lot more people, I think at Reading and Leeds we had the biggest crowds at the weekend. About 25,000 people, but I think with this album there’s a step-up in the way people perceive us and even critically people are saying that we’ve stepped up the game, stepped up a level.

How are you taking that? Is that something you take in your stride, or do you feel under pressure? How do you and the band feel about that?
It’s always nice. I mean, because we started out doing this at around sixteen, seventeen, there’s always a lot of pre-conceptions about us, you know, a young indie band, so they thought, ‘oh they listen to a lot of indie bands and made their own band’. But I think people are starting to take us seriously.

I think people have been surprised by the way you’ve changed this up over the albums. When did you decide to go that way with A Different Kind of Fix?
All three albums have been pretty different, so there’s no sort of masterplan, we just go along with it. I think it’s quite reflective. I mean, you know, we’re 21, and we’ve sort of grown up doing this, and people at this age are constantly changing, and our taste in music is changing, we’re just using different instruments and trying new things really. A lot of people at this age are at university and figuring out what they want to do and for me, it’s figuring out what our music means.

Were you listening to anything in particular that influenced the direction of different your different kind of music?
There wasn’t anything really in particular. I was just listening to more just making music, sort of looking to hip-hop and dance music for sample and loop bases, and one of the recurring things through this album is building songs around a loop and taking it to the absolute extreme.

Have you started thinking of what comes next? I guess people are probably expecting something different again.
There’s only so much we can do. I’d love to make another guitar based album, a little bit like the first one, but take it further. I want to basically make the best album you can with two guitars, drum and bass, that would really excite me.

I guess that’s something you have to discuss with the band first.
Yeah, definitely ha. [Laughs]

I mean you’ve pretty much consistently been releasing an album every year. Is a new album something that you’re already started thinking about?
Not yet to be honest. The first two weren’t really pushed outside of the UK because of the nature of moving onto the next album so quickly, and I think we’d like to get the change to tour and travel a bit more.

I read the other day that Ed Nash said that you guys haven’t found your sound yet.
I spoke to him about that, he told me he said he didn’t actually say that. I think what he meant was that we’re still trying to find out what we want to do, what kind of music we want to make. I mean, all three albums sound really different but to me and to all of our fans, our music is instantly recognizable. It’s not something you can explain really, it’s kind of an intangible thing.

In your mind, what really encapsulates the Bombay Bicycle Club sound? What elements stand out for you?
I don’t know, it’s getting harder and harder to pin down as one thing. I think Jack’s voice is quite distinctive, that’s always going to be the main thing that unites us. Whatever kind of music we’re making, it’s always strong melodies and fundamentally that’s the most important thing.

What are you most looking forward to in the comings months?
Er…coming to Hong Kong?

You know you don’t have to say that…
No, but it’s true, for the rest of the year, that’s what I’ve been looking forward to the most! And we’re going to Australia in March, and I’ve never been before so I’m really excited about that. I mean, actually, I went once on a Rugby tour, but you know, that was different.

I’m guessing it’s going to be an entirely different experience…
It was actually a rugby tour that stopped in HK for a few days…so it’s just recreating that!

You were talking about festivals earlier, how it’s the highlight of the year. Have you always grown up with the festival culture?
Yeah, it’s such as part of British summer really, I’ve been going since I was fifteen. Now that I’ve seen the other side, I’m less willing to go back and camp out like the rest of them though!

You guys actually came to prominence in some ways via that way, I mean the V festival was your first festival. Have you got any favourite festival moments?
Glastonbury 2010, was pretty amazing. We had a Samba band with us. And then, the first time we did Reading, 2007, I think, that was again, we sort of packed out the tent, we were the first band on the first day and the gates had only just opened. And Reading this year, felt like a really big moment as well for us.

Have you got a favourite festival?
To play, definitely Reading and Leeds. But Glastonbury will always hold a special place in my heart.

What’s your quintessential festival song? What’s the one that always gets the crowd going?
Always Like This, probably, from the first album.

What comes to your mind when you hear the name Clockenflap?
Well, I kind of always miss out the L so… it just makes people giggle I think. It’s a made up word isn’t it?

Bombay Bicycle Club play Clockenflap on Saturday December 10. 9pm, Harbour Flap Stage, www.clockenflap.com.
 

Photo: Jo McCaughey